This is why the Labour ward at NRH closed…

A picture of one of the abandoned delivery rooms now used as storage

Photos have emerged of the sorry state of the Honiara National Referral Hospital’s Labour Ward, which was abandoned recently because of unsafe and unhygienic conditions.

SIBC has received pictures showing the inside of the former delivery rooms in the ward, which, SIBC understands, have not been used since an earthquake in December last year.

A mattress in one of the rooms formerly used for births

Since December mothers have been forced to give birth in makeshift rooms with limited privacy and questionable hygiene. The abandoned rooms have been used for storage.

Staff at the hospital responded to the conditions by going on strike, triggering the move to the Isolation Ward this week. The main issues were the poor and unsafe environment such as poor ventilation and cooling system, poor drainage, lack of adequate space and comfort for labouring mothers and newborns.

The dungeon-like entrance of the Labour Ward.

SIBC also understands in the Labour Ward some mothers who have just given birth were forced to share mattresses and lie in the corridors of the ward with up to three other mothers and their babies.

It is understood work is being carried out to improve conditions.

 

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